Tel Aviv wants to host 2012 Olympics

Tel Aviv wants to host 2012 Olympics

TEL AVIV (AFP): Israel's biggest city of Tel Aviv set the ball rolling on Monday on plans for an unprecedented bid to host the summer Olympic Games in 2012.

"We started working toward the possibility of hosting the games here," Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai said while standing in front of a scale model of a planned Olympic park.

"It is a major opportunity to develop the city. It is like a dream and it will send a message of peace to the world and improve the image of Israel that it is not a nation at war, but one at peace," Huldai added.

He said US$30 million was put aside to complete a feasibility study over the next two years and to prepare a possible bid to be presented to the International Olympic Committee by the Israeli government in 2004.

The current plan requires a $10 billion investment to convert an industrial area along the polluted Yarkon river that runs through Tel Aviv into a sparkling Olympic city complete with state-of-the art sporting facilities and an underground transportation system.